Chan Chun Sing
Singapore
“Since 2002, the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) has worked with the autonomous universities (AUs) to establish arrangements that minimise disruption to National Servicemen (NSmen) who are pursuing full-time studies up to the undergraduate level, while meeting the Singapore Armed Forces' (SAF's) operational and training needs.”
“Secondments help to build up the range of competencies and work experiences of public officers to strengthen their longer-term employment relevance and resilience. The Public Service Division's guideline to agencies is to support public officers even while they are on secondment.”
“The priority of our National Servicemen must be their military duties and operational training, to meet the Singapore Armed Forces's (SAF's) operational requirements.”
“In January 2026, I had informed this House that the Government had convened an independent committee to conduct a review of the political salary framework that was laid out in 2012. The Committee has completed the review and submitted its recommendations to the Government in April.”
“All countries seek to develop mutually beneficial partnerships, and the United States-Indonesia Major Defence Cooperation Partnership is one such example.”
“Since the Singapore Armed Forces Volunteer Corps (SAFVC) was established in 2014, over 1,500 men and women have completed training and served as SAFVC Volunteers (SVs). Presently, there are about 1,100 in-service SVs, comprising 52% male and 48% female. About seven in 10 of our in-service SVs are new Citizens or Permanent Residents.”
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“Another one is at the former Serangoon bus interchange, and you can see the artist's impression of the new childcare centre that will be ready in a couple of months' time. We have also converted a bank into a childcare centre in Taman Jurong. If Members have other innovative ideas on where you would like to build your childcare centres, let us know and we will work on it. I have heard other innovative ideas from Miss Penny Low to build centres in parks, green spaces or temporary structures. We welcome all suggestions, so long as this is acceptable to the community and to the parents who entrust their children in our care. We will also co-locate with other facilities, for example, car parks in Sengkang and Tanjong Pagar, and a hawker centre in Woodlands. If you have ideas, we welcome them and will work with you to make it happen. We will increase the number of childcare centres at workplaces. We will further encourage owners of private premises to make full use of the URA's Community and Sports Facilities Scheme to provide extra gross floor area for developers so that they can partner the operators to provide more childcare options for our young families. People usually look for childcare centres in three places. One, near our own homes. Two, near our workplaces. Three, near our parents' places. Today, out of the 1,000 childcare centres, about a quarter of them are located at workplaces. We can go further. It will be wonderful to provide parents with peace of mind and they can visit their kids even during lunch time. We will continue to ensure good quality manpower – the other challenge. I agree with Mr Ang Hin Kee. When we talk to the childcare teachers, many of them do not start off by talking about pay.”
“And in the coming year, my officers will be going constituency by constituency, division by division, to meet up with the local grassroots leaders to identify the sites and to get support from them to build more centres. If we look at the experiences of other countries, it is quite telling. The demand for childcare follows an "S" curve. When income and education levels are relatively low, the demand for childcare is not very high. It comes to a point when the growing middle class, growing number of women returning to the workforce and growing quality of childcare services see a sharp demand. We are at this stage. The demand will eventually taper off as the number of women going back to the workforce stabilises. In the next five-year Masterplan, from 2013 to 2017, we will aim to change childcare provision from the current one in three children for every cohort, to one in two, and provide full day childcare places for these children aged 18 months to six years old. This will require us to build 20,000 more places to meet this target. Page: 45 There are two main challenges to meet this demand – sites and teachers. These are challenges that many Members of this House have identified. Let me talk about sites. I would like to show a second slide, Mdm Chair. We have plans to work with MND to in-build the childcare centres into new Build-to-Order (BTO) flats, new car parks and so forth. Pre-building in new BTOs is a longer term plan. The short-term plan is to not only look for void decks to convert into childcare centres, but also explore all sorts of innovative ideas, including the conversion of disused facilities. On the screen you can see the conversion of one former swimming complex in Bukit Merah, which is now Eager Beaver School House.”
“And we agree that this generation's demand is different from the last generation. For the last generation, most of us grew up in our own homes. Today, many of us are dual-income families and that is why we need more childcare facilities. We are taking actions to meet this demand and to even plan ahead to meet future demand, which is why we have embarked on the new Child Care Page: 44 Masterplan to build on the success of the previous 2008 Child Care Masterplan. From 2005 to 2008, there was a 10% increase in the total childcare capacity. From 2009 to 2012, our childcare capacity increased by 45%, almost double. In the original Masterplan in 2008, we planned to build 200 centres in five years. In the end, we built 267 centres in about four-plus years. Having said that, the demand for childcare is still strong. The enrolment rate of our centres is about 80%. Once the childcare centres fill up to beyond 80%, it is an indication of a potential demand for new childcare centres in the locality. We will usually not fill all centres up to 100% as we should retain some spare capacity for contingencies and for shifts in demand. We also need to cater for contingencies whereby one or two childcare centres may be shut down temporarily because of an outbreak of disease and so forth. There are also local hotspots, especially in the new towns where there are many more new and younger couples. The demand for childcare services is very strong. Some of the existing centres have enrolment over 85%. For example, Punggol currently has 22 centres. We will be building 15 more in the next two years. In Woodlands, there are currently 49 centres. We will be building 10 more in the next two years.”
“Now, people do not have to go to the Community Development Councils (CDCs) to apply for childcare financial assistance. You only need to go to the childcare centre to fill up the form. It is a one-stop service at the childcare centre. If I may just reply to Mr Gerald Giam, we agree with Mr Giam that student care is a continuation of childcare. Yesterday, Minister Heng Swee Keat announced that we will step up the provision of student care in the schools. We also agree that student care services should also be provided in the community. There are advantages to having student care in the school. The children do not need to travel long distances to the student care centre in the community. There are also advantages, like you said, for some community services because not all schools may require the service and have the economies of scale. We are stepping up on this. And I would also just like to add that 400 student care centres are already administrating the student care subsidy so we will continue to expand this. Now, let me go on to the fourth factor as to why the childcare demand has increased so substantially. Someone asked me: why do you build more childcare centres when our TFR is decreasing? This is a chicken-and-egg problem. Singaporeans may not have children because they feel that there is no adequate childcare provision. This way, we get ourselves into a vicious cycle – not enough childcare options and, therefore, no children. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. I would rather err on the side of caution, where I provide more choices for young parents who consider childcare as a viable option. 12.45 pm This is why we will continue to build childcare centres to meet the demands of our new generation of young parents.”
“Our female labour force participation rate for women aged 25 to 54 has increased from 65% in 2001 to 76% today. We have one of the highest female labour force participation rates in the world. This is good news. Our females are highly educated, have the capabilities and want to continue to pursue their careers. And that is why we must give options to our young parents – male or female – to place their children in good, affordable, quality and accessible childcare. I am not saying that everybody should put their children in childcare. But for those who desire, we will try to make sure that they have a place. Second, our social norms have changed. Grandparents are less available to help us take care of our children now. Many of them either live further away from their children or they have their own life pursuits. Childcare services have also become much more accessible because of the quality of both the teachers and the centres. Many parents have provided feedback to us that they are now much more willing to consider childcare as an option. Third, the Government has also made access to childcare more affordable. At this point, I would like to clarify that all parents, regardless of working status, are supported through basic subsidies. They are also supported by other forms Page: 43 of assistance, such as the Baby Bonus and Child Development Account matched savings scheme, which are used to defray childcare expenses. Working parents receive additional support as they need to send their children to full-day childcare programmes, which are, generally, more expensive. As part of our recent subsidy enhancements, larger families can also qualify based on the per capita income. The application process has also been simplified.”
“Many of them did not previously attend kindergarten because they thought they could not afford it. They were afraid. But for many Members in this House who have walked the ground, you will know that today, no one will be deprived of a kindergarten education because they cannot afford it. They can always join one of the anchor operators, like PAP Community Foundation or NTUC. One of the conditions of being the anchor operator is to make sure that they cater to and take in the people who are unable Page: 42 to pay for the kindergarten services. So, I would like to thank all the volunteers, including the grassroots volunteers, grassroots leaders, who have walked the ground and visited their blocks to make sure that no child is left without kindergarten education. This is an ongoing effort. The fact that we are almost 100% today does not mean that we will be in this happy situation tomorrow. I must say that today, one of the roles of the anchor operator is to make sure they take in people from all walks of life, including those who are unable to pay for it. What about children from five to six years old using childcare services? Four years ago, the percentage of five to six years old who used childcare services was 19%. Four years later today, it stands at 34%, which has almost doubled. For children who are 18 months to four years old, the figure was 23% four years ago from 2004 and 2008. Today, it stands at 36%. Both of these figures show a tremendous and significant increase in the demand for childcare services. The question is, why is this demand growing so fast and so quickly? I believe that there are four main drivers. First, as of today, many families are dual-income families. Many of our females desire to go back into the labour force and pursue their career.”
“But beyond financial considerations, I think what is uppermost in their minds when they decide to have a child or not, are two very important things. One is the healthcare of their child. Everyone of us who have been parents know that so long as we are blessed with a healthy child, we cannot ask for much more. This is where MOH's initiative to cover neonatal conditions come in helpful. The second thing that is very crucial to many of our young parents is the quality of care and education. Many have said that they do not want to bring a child into this world if they are not confident of bringing up the child well. And we can understand that. This is why MSF and MOE are committed to build an accessible, affordable and quality early childhood development sector, to holistically develop our children's potential, not just preparing them for Primary school, not just preparing them to pass and excel in academic subjects, but to equip them with the socio-emotional skills, motor skills and, most importantly, to ignite in them the passion to learn and the spirit of enquiry. This is what we hope to do. Yesterday, Minister Heng Swee Keat has shared some of these initiatives and today, I will share more about the childcare sector. Mdm Chair, if I may have your permission to flash out Chart 1 [A slide was shown to hon Members]. Today, for children five to six years old, almost 100% of them attend kindergarten. It was 95% four years ago. The last 4% to 5% which we have managed to achieve in the last four years was not easy. It took tremendous efforts on the part of the educators, grassroots volunteers and leaders to seek out the last few percentage of children who did not attend kindergarten.”
“Mdm Chair, let me thank all Members of the House who have spoken passionately about the family as an institution and as bedrock of our society. We are in good shape today. About 90% of the people surveyed said that the family is the most important aspect of their lives. Having said that, I do not think we can take that for granted. The stresses from rapid and volatile economic cycles, the challenges from alternative values systems across the entire world as we are so open, will continue to challenge the family as an institution in our society and may we, therefore, not be complacent that the family will always be the bedrock of our society. Let me share the focus for the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) this year in terms of strengthening the family. The first is encouraging and promoting family formation and child development and I will spend quite a bit of time explaining the childcare industry to the Members of the House. The second, is how we engender a pro-family mindset and to strengthen family education for all life stages. And finally, the third, how do we support vulnerable families. Let us begin with the first – family formation. To help Singaporeans meet their family formations, the Government has announced new and enhanced marriage and parenthood measures last month. For example, MND has announced various measures to help family formation and we welcome that. Page: 41 MSF will continue to work with other agencies to deliver other measures including the enhanced Baby Bonus to legislate new schemes like paternity and shared parental leave which shall take effect from 1 May this year. Having spoken to many couples intending to get married and intending to have their children, we know that financial contribution is one of their top concerns.”
“We fully agree with Ms Irene Ng on the importance of teamwork. In fact, I think for all NSmen that have gone through NS, they know the first rule in BMT that they were taught is the buddy system, from the very first day. The buddy system. You never walk alone, you never do things on your own but you always do things in pairs. This is something that is very valuable to us in the military and we expect all our people to do so. On the specific case in this particular instance, I think we will let the investigations wrap up. If there is any mistake made by the individuals concerned, we will apply the military justice system accordingly.”
“IAD's audit reports and the follow-up actions are reviewed by the MINDEF Audit Committee chaired by the Permanent Secretary (Defence Development), which meets every two months. On an annual basis, a comprehensive report that grades how MINDEF and the SAF agencies perform is also submitted by the IAD to the Minister for Defence. Externally, MINDEF is audited by the Auditor-General who submits an annual report to the President and Parliament for scrutiny. That annual report is publicly available. Over the years, the Auditor-General has identified areas in Page: 181 MINDEF's procurement and payments systems for improvement, which MINDEF has rectified. MINDEF, like the rest of the Government, has zero tolerance towards corruption. Our defence procurement process is widely recognised to be of the highest standards. Suppliers know that MINDEF has high expectations and that we drive a hard bargain when it comes to pricing. We have also been described as a "reference customer" – that means that when Singapore buys a platform, it sets a benchmark for cost effectiveness for that platform. We have studied the Transparency International report in detail and will decide where more information can be released, so long as it does not compromise our security goals. We are confident that our current systems and processes to guard against corruption remain robust. Nevertheless, we will regularly view our processes to ensure that we remain corruption-free, because we owe this to Singapore and Singaporeans to be good stewards of the resources entrusted to us. Let me now hand it over to Senior Parliamentary Secretary Dr Maliki who will speak on our training efforts and Total Defence.”
“The SAF will continue to harness the medical expertise and experience at the national level to ensure that our servicemen can have peace of mind when they train hard in service of our nation. Mr Chairman, Ms Sylvia Lim asked about Transparency International's "D+" grading for Singapore in its Government Defence Anti-Corruption Index 2013. Transparency International's assessment of corruption risk is weighted heavily towards the availability of public information in its defined risk areas of political, finance, personnel, operations and procurement risk. For example, we would have scored higher if we released information about how much we spend on sensitive operations and classified research and development projects. But Singapore does not publicise such details of our defence and security expenditures as it would compromise our security. To reduce the risks of corruption, MINDEF has instead put in place several layers of internal and external checks. Internally, officers that are in positions to approve projects are subject to security vetting regularly. The checks conducted as part of the vetting process would include credit bureau checks and checks on the assets held by the officers and their family members to identify any indications of unexplained wealth. In addition, the officers are regularly rotated to reduce the risk of them being cultivated by suppliers. MINDEF also conducts regular reviews of our financial and procurement procedures, and MINDEF's Internal Audit Department (IAD) also performs regular audit checks. As part of our processes, we utilise data analytics to spot outliers and investigate each and every such incident.”
“And if there is any concern with this, there is also an appeal process. So, it is not a case-by-case basis, but there is a proper system to ensure that compensation is done fairly. Next, if I may move on to the SAF Medical System. The well-being of our servicemen is also an important priority for MINDEF. Let me update the House on how we are improving our medical care for our servicemen which Dr Lim, Ms Irene Ng and Mrs Lina Chiam have asked about. We had reviewed our medical system in 2012. The review was co-led by BG Benedict Lim, Commandant of the SAFTI Military Institute and Assoc Prof Eillyne Seow, Divisional Chairman of the Ambulatory and Diagnostic Medicine at Tan Tock Seng Hospital. The review concluded that our medical system, which covers medical classification and screening, is fundamentally sound. Nevertheless, we will continue to improve and look for partnerships and initiatives to provide better care for our servicemen. For example, the SAF has been collaborating with the National Heart Centre Singapore to leverage on their advanced cardiac diagnostic capabilities to provide timely and quality cardiac screening for our soldiers. 7.15 pm The SAF will also be collaborating with Jurong Health Services to provide specialised emergency medical services as well as training in this field. This will Page: 180 enhance medical support for our soldiers training in western part of Singapore. It will also allow the SAF to benchmark our standard of emergency care. The SAF is currently exploring having experienced Family physicians serve as in-house physicians in selected SAF medical centres, and also to mentor our more junior doctors.”
“More important than good systems, we need good people and good commanders who not only know how to work the system but, at the same time, they must have an eye for danger and be able to react when circumstances change. This is the fundamental building block of the SAF system – good systems and good people. Dr Lim asked if we can do away with grenade training. Let me assure Dr Lim that this is actually one of the defining moments for all the recruits' training, and we would like to train our recruits and our soldiers as they would operate in war. But before they do any live training for the grenade, they actually go Page: 179 through various sessions starting with dummy grenades, progressing to something that is almost the exact replica of the actual grenade before they go on to embark on throwing the live grenade. So, there are proper procedures in place. But having said that, we still need commanders with a keen sense of danger, who know his men and his machine, to ensure that our recruits and all our soldiers are safe. Having said that, I must reiterate that the military has inherent risks in everything it does. It is incumbent upon all men and commanders to make sure that they stay alert and not be complacent just because there are training rules and safety regulations in place. Training rules and safety regulations cannot be a crutch to a sense of vigilance required in all our soldiers. I would also like to respond to Mrs Lina Chiam's comment about compensation. Let me assure Mrs Lina Chiam that compensation is not on a case-by-case basis. MINDEF has a proper system to look at compensation. In fact, the MINDEF Compensation Board is chaired by a senior legal officer from the Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC). So, it is not just an internal MINDEF process.”
“Actual equipping and force preparation only begin after this. It is a sequential process one after another. Today, our NSmen report to our Mobilisation and Equipping Centres or the MECs as we call them. The equipment that they need are already in the Centres, the ammunition that they need will be "pushed" to them; likewise, other supplies. And all these ammunition and other supplies are "pushed" to them in pre-packed modules whereby they do not need to go round to collect from different stations. It is unlike the previous method where we have the proverbial Chinese medicine shop where people have to go to different stations to collect their different types of ammunition and equipment. In the new system, you go to one place, you get the entire package that is configured for your respective units. This saves much time. The time saved can now be used for our NSmen to undergo currency training that includes shooting the SAR 21 rifle, chemical defence, first aid, and other training that may be required specific to that unit. All these are done concurrently which allow our NSmen to not only be ready in a much shorter time but also to have a much higher level of proficiency within the time allocated to them. Having said that, we will not rest on our laurels and we will continue to seek further improvements. At this point of time, I would like to share with Dr Lim and Ms Irene Ng some issues on safety. Indeed, like what Ms Irene Ng said, safety is of utmost concern to the SAF. Good safety practices need to come from a few good practices. First, we must have good systems to make sure that our procedures and our operating methods, tactics, are safe.”
“For local training, MINDEF has over the years consolidated our training plots to use the spaces we have more effectively. There will be two main training areas – the live firing and manoeuvring areas in the West and the offshore training area in Pulau Tekong. We have also synergised the usage of Army and Air Force training areas, where possible. For institutional land use, we have continued to intensify the use of our camps and equipping centres to the extent we can, subject to operational, security and safety requirements. When it comes to time, we know how precious time is to our servicemen. Where possible, we continually challenge ourselves to make it more convenient for our NSmen to come back, to train and to serve. For in-camp training, where possible, preparatory modules are given to NSmen to better prepare them before they return for their in-camps. To allow NSmen to stay connected when they are off-duty, we have designated zones that are in non-sensitive areas where they can access the Internet and stay in touch with their work commitments. Another good example is how we have evolved our mobilisation system to allow our NSmen to be mobilised much more efficiently, while increasing their confidence and operational readiness many times. Page: 178 Mr Chairman, if I may have your permission to share with this House some slides on the changes to our mobilisation system. Our more experienced NSmen might remember that mobilisation exercises used to be a fairly tedious process. In the past, our NSmen would have to report for mobilisation at various schools and camps, after which they would have to go and collect equipment from various locations before returning to the mobilisation for equipping. All these take time.”
“Mr Chairman, MINDEF is deeply appreciative of Singaporeans' support for our defence and security. We owe it to Singapore and Singaporeans to be good stewards of the resources entrusted to us – be it money, land or time, issues which Dr Lim Wee Kiak asked about. MINDEF takes a long-term view towards building our capabilities, which the Defence Minister has spoken about. Through steady defence expenditure and by stretching each defence dollar, we are able to build up a strong SAF to Page: 177 meet our defence needs. Likewise, we also plan long term for SAF's land use. Over the years, while the size of the SAF units may have become smaller, their operational capabilities have become more sophisticated and they require more extensive training space. For example, a typical infantry battalion used to require a 24 kilometres square training area for a manoeuvre exercise. Today, with motorisation and other advanced systems, the same unit can easily operate and dominate a 40 kilometres square area. To meet our training requirements, MINDEF uses a combination of simulation as well as local and overseas training. Our investments in simulation, like the marksmanship trainers, allow us to achieve much higher throughput at much lower costs. It also allows us to correct our soldiers' fundamentals before we deploy them out for more costly outfield exercises. Innovative concepts like the Multi-Mission Range Complex where we combine seven rifle ranges into one, take ideas from concepts like the multi-storey golf driving ranges stacked on top of each other, and bowling centres equipped with individual computer diagnostics to aid the bowlers. All these make good use of the finite land space we have.”
“Mdm Speaker, I thank Mr Yee for the supplementary question. No, we do not have the data at this point in time, but we do monitor any change in the fees made by the operators. We ask them to give adequate notice to the parents before any fee increase is made. Usually, for those who take the Government subsidies, we also scrutinise their cost structure to make sure that the fees are justified. Page: 8”
“Mdm Speaker, I do not have all the details of this particular case, but MSF will be most happy to extend help to this resident of Dr Lee's. If the Member can provide details, I will ask my staff to follow up to see how best we can provide the legal and financial help to the family. Page: 11”
“Mdm Speaker, I thank Ms Denise Phua for her supplementary questions and suggestions. Yes, certainly, we will provide the forecast and we are working closely with the VWOs to meet some of these needs. The Member is right. The physical infrastructure is probably the easier part to meet. But more importantly is the funding of the programmes; and, most importantly, is the manpower requirement. Page: 9 For the funding of the programmes, we are open to working with more VWOs to pilot different sorts of programmes for different tiers of needs. As for manpower, as what we have described in other sectors, we are also looking at new sources of manpower to see whether we can open up more opportunities for people to contribute part-time services to this community. At the same time, in order to ensure that our manpower supply is robust, we would also need to explore alternative sources of manpower beyond the traditional countries that we have been working with.”
“This will provide more options to the parents who need such Page: 14 services.”
“Mdm Speaker, I thank Dr Lam for the questions. Indeed, we are aware of the situation in some of the newer estates like Sengkang. We are open to exploring new ideas and we are also aware that because of the way the new HDB flats are constructed, they do have limited void deck space available for some of these social facilities. We are working with the grassroots advisors in the respective areas to see where we can find new sites. This may include incorporating some of these features into newly developed structures, like for example, multi-storey car parks and other open spaces. We are open to the idea of having modular structures if it is acceptable to the operators and also the parents who are sending their children there. We know that there are some open fields and open areas in Sengkang that can be studied. We are open to such areas and will be happy to work with the Member and the operators to bring those about. The other thing that we can do, and we are doing, is to make sure that there is a better matching of the demand and the supply. Sometimes, the centres are there but they do not provide the classes at the appropriate level for the students of that particular area. We have to encourage the operators to open up classes that accommodate those students. The last thing that we are doing is to also provide better matching because people generally send their children to three localities: near their homes, near their workplace or near their grandparents' places. So, there is quite a bit of flux in the demand but we are trying to do a better matching of the people's demand with where they want to site their children. We are encouraging various employers to try and take up the scheme to set up childcare centres within their workplace.”
“Mdm Speaker, let me clarify Mr Yee Jenn Jong's first question. Firstly, for public funds that are used to support any programmes in general, we ask that they be made accessible to people from all religious backgrounds. So, we have programmes run by various VWOs – they are religion-based organisations – but the programmes must be made accessible to people from different religious backgrounds. And we also ask that they do not proselytise or do not use that to promote any religious belief in any particular sector. I think that is just to be fair to everybody, because these are, indeed, public funds that we are talking about. On the second issue about the private sector operators, our philosophy is that, as much as we can, we would like to use the public funds for public good and to minimise the potential possibility of profits going into private pockets. I think that people can generally agree with us. On the third issue about benchmarking, it is not only just the industry benchmark that we have. Before they do any price increase, for the Anchor Operators, we have stringent criteria to ask them to justify the necessity to Page: 13 increase and what are the cost drivers. We actually drill down to the details. And, indeed, for other comparable non-profit operators, we also take them to account in our benchmarking. So, it is not just the industry median. But, of course, the industry median is one of the criteria that we take into account.”
“Mdm Speaker, let me thank Mr David Ong for the two supplementary questions. On the first issue, it is still early days, because we have just announced the enhancement to the childcare subsidies, but we will certainly be watching closely to see if there are any operators who might be opportunistic in this and hope to raise fees. What we have done is this: we have tiered the level of subsidies to different income groups. There will be a smaller likelihood – not zero, but smaller likelihood – that they can increase fees across the board. That is one. On the second issue, indeed, the longer term solution to mitigate some of these cost pressures is for us to expand the number of options available in the number of sites, but, more importantly, in the number of teachers. The other cost driver for the childcare and early childhood development industry is the quality of the teachers. We are going to spend more money and more effort to develop the teachers, to groom them, to train them, so that the pool of available resources in the entire sector will be bigger than what it is now. That will be an important way for us to mitigate the cost pressures in terms of salaries for this sector. On the other hand, we would also like to gradually upgrade the qualifications of our teachers and, with that, the kind of salary remuneration that they can command. There is a multi-pronged approach for us to gradually expand this sector for early childhood development. We do have a bit of an opportunity at this point in time because the kindergarten cohort sizes are shrinking. There is potential for us to encourage some of the current kindergarten operators to Page: 12 expand their services to the childcare sector.”
“There might be some for-profit operators that will provide niche solutions at one end of the market for those parents who desire such services. But, indeed, we are Page: 11 most concerned if this is to happen. When we announce the results of the review, we will be taking into account this particular aspect.”
“Mdm Speaker, let me thank Ms Denise Phua for her two supplementary questions. Indeed, we share her concerns that people involved in the pre-school or the early childhood development sector should not try to do it primarily for profit and definitely not for the mass market sector. There are a few unique characteristics of this sector. One being that at such an early age, parents are justifiably concerned about their children's development. When you do not have a standardised test to check how much value-add a particular centre provides for the child, there is a danger that people might take price as a proxy for quality. There might also be a danger where people start to chase what they perceive to be quality programmes, which may or may not value add to a child's development. In the entire sector, we would not be able to rule out that there will be some people who might be in this work because of profit. What we have to ensure is that where public money is concerned, that if we do give any subsidies, they go towards helping those families that require help most, and not to go into the pockets of people who are pursuing this for private profit. We are also equally concerned about this potential of small players being bought up by a conglomerate that is essentially for-profit. This is a problem because it reduces the diversity of the players in the market. The greater concern is that if there is such a situation, then it might actually narrow the mass market options that we want to make available to the public. We are watching this very closely and we will certainly take this into account in the review of our Anchor Operator scheme. Part of the reason for us to have sufficient Anchor Operators is to provide the mass market options for the general public.”
“So, if we compare the fees of the Anchor Operators with the rest of the industry, generally, they would be below the industry median. For childcare, it would be $750 a month for the industry median; about $615 for the Anchor Operators in the HDB estates. On the last point about the availability of spaces for various operators – be they Anchor Operators or non-Anchor Operators – my Ministry is working closely with MND and other agencies to ensure that we have as many available and suitable sites as possible for the operators. We know that, whether Anchor Operators or non-Anchor Operators, rental cost is an issue. To the extent that we can, we will want to provide affordable options to the operators of such childcare facilities. And hopefully, the operators, whether Anchor Operators or non-Anchor Operators, will not raise fees unnecessarily and use the rental as an excuse to do so. Page: 10”
“Mdm Speaker, I thank Mr Yee for his three supplementary questions. On the first, different sectors have different characteristics. It is different for the transport sector and different for the pre-school sector. What we are most concerned with in the pre-school sector is to ensure that we have adequate and affordable services for the mass market. There will always be parents who will require niche services, and I think they are at liberty to pursue those services. But when it comes to Government funding, we would like to use Government funding, where we can, to support the mass market options so that most of our parents would have the quality and affordable options available to them. For all the Anchor Operators that take on Government subsidies, it is incumbent upon us to ensure that they make access available to children from all backgrounds, independent of religious affiliations. The other thinking is this. When we spend what is public money, then we should ensure that the public money goes on to benefit the two groups of people. One, the families and children involved. The other is the teachers providing the services that are so important in this sector. We would be very careful to design a scheme such that the public money does not go into private profit. That has been our abiding principle. On the second question about how and when the childcare operators can raise fees, we have guidelines in place to ensure that if the childcare operators raise fees, they are to give adequate notice to the parents such that the parents can make the necessary adjustments if need be. For the Anchor Operators, we are more stringent. We ensure that they do not raise fees beyond the industry median.”
“Mdm Speaker, the eligibility criteria for the anchor operator scheme were set to ensure that the operators' programmes are accessible to children of all backgrounds, and that the Government's funding goes towards serving the public good rather than private profit. Anchor operators are required to demonstrate financial stability and commit to meeting the quality and affordability targets set by the Ministry. The scheme is currently being reviewed and the Implementation Committee for Enhancing Pre-School Education co-chaired by MOE and MSF will announce more details by the second quarter of this year. Page: 8 Mr Yee asked how we ensure that childcare centres do not raise fees excessively in response to the recent enhancements to subsidies. First, we have designed the enhancements to give more assistance to families who require more help. Lower income families will receive more subsidy, as well as larger families with a lower per capita income. As the enhancements are not universal, it is less likely that operators can raise fees across the board. Second, we will continue to facilitate the development of more centres in areas where there is demand, and grow the number of good quality, affordable places through the anchor operator scheme to help keep overall fees in check. On the number and distribution of new centres by anchor operators, it would be premature for us to update on this as the new operators have yet to be chosen and to make their submissions for the new sites. We are committed to building as many centres as necessary to meet demand for good quality, affordable childcare services.”
“We are, indeed, very concerned with this issue and we share your concerns that we should do more to help those people at the lower socio-economic strata. I hope that this House and the members of the public will agree with us that, actually, going forward, our help needs to be much more targeted. Page: 30 We need to give more help to those people at the bottom and, perhaps, not so much to those people at the top end. So, it will not be a case whereby everything is universal, but we really should focus more help to those people at the bottom. And if we look at some of the policies that we have rolled out in recent months – indeed, that is what we are doing, to focus more help on those people at the bottom 20th percentile to bottom one-third of our population.”
“Mdm Speaker, I would like to thank Ms Tan for her supplementary questions. Indeed, we have gone through quite a few of the studies to try to track inter-generational shifts. Because of the varying assumptions made by the different studies, we have not found any of them to be particularly complete, in the way that they have done so. What the Member has mentioned is correct, that, indeed, we are most focused on the bottom 20th percentile, to make sure that even if they are not as well off in this generation, their children will be able to get out of the situation that they are in. And, indeed, this is the focus of my Ministry's work to make sure that we do not just look at the families in risk but also to look at the families at risk, so that before they get into trouble, they have the best opportunities available to get out of the situation that they are in. To this end, we are focusing a lot of our efforts on childcare and education to make sure that the next generation has the best head-start possible and to be roughly at the same starting point before they go onwards with the rest of their lives and go into the workforce. There are also some studies that have shown and have tried to track to see whether the top 10 percentile of our income earners – how do they correspond with, say, their fathers' generation. From the limited data that we have, we are roughly in the same situation as the US and the UK, but we are not totally satisfied with the data yet because they took a cohort from some years back. What we want to do is to be able to consistently track cohorts going forward, and that will require us to conduct some longitudinal studies which will take some time.”
“The fostering scheme provides temporary care for children who have been abused, abandoned or neglected, while long-term care plans are being worked out. Robust processes are put in place to ensure the safety and well-being of the children while they are under the care of volunteer foster parents. Prospective foster parents and their families are interviewed and screened by trained staff from the Ministry. Those who are selected are provided with regular training to equip them with the preparation and skills to meet the care needs of the foster children. Foster parents can also seek advice and assistance from MSF at any time, including after office hours. Counselling and psychological services are also available to foster parents and foster children who may need such support. The Ministry also monitors the progress and well-being of foster children regularly. This includes making home visits and telephone calls every two months, or at higher frequencies where necessary. In addition, the child's progress is reviewed by a Committee on Fostering. This is an independent Page: 153 committee comprising doctors, social workers, counsellors and individuals from other fields. All allegations of abuse are treated seriously. A foster parent can be suspended pending investigation by the Ministry. They may have their services terminated and action taken against them if the allegations are substantiated.”
“Since the inception of the Baby Bonus scheme in 2001, over 310,000 children have received a cash gift, and more than 240,000 children have opened a Child Development Account (CDA) which enjoys dollar-for-dollar matching of savings from the Government. From 2001 to 2012, the Government has disbursed $2.31 billion of benefits under the scheme. In 2011, the top three uses of the cash gift were on child-related expenses (for example, milk powder and diapers), vaccinations, and hospital expenses. The top three uses of CDA monies were for expenses at childcare centres, kindergartens and healthcare institutions. There is no income or ethnicity criterion for the Baby Bonus Scheme. For the 2001 to 2005 birth cohorts, 99% of eligible children benefited from the Baby Bonus cash gift and 97% opened CDAs. The high take-up rate indicates that families of all ethnicities and income groups have benefited from the scheme. There are some low-income households which do not open a CDA. MSF will continue to work with our partners to strengthen outreach to these families. Baby Bonus benefits are tiered according to the birth order of the child. Families with more children would therefore receive more benefits in total. The table below illustrates the total benefits families can expect to receive, based on the number of children they have: Page: 152”
“The Government had just recently enhanced the ComCare student care subsidies in July 2012 to make student care more affordable to lower income families. The monthly household income criterion was raised from $2,500 to $3,500. A per capita income criterion of up to $875 was introduced so that larger families can benefit from the scheme. The quantum of subsidies was also increased, from a cap of $180 per month, to $255 in the highest subsidy tier. Based on student care fees of $260, families with monthly household income of less than $1,500, who enjoy the highest subsidy, would co-pay only $5 a month. Those with income of $2,500 would pay about $75. In addition, a Start up Grant of up to $400 is provided to help families with the initial cost of placing their children in a student care centre. As at December 2012, close to 3,800 children are benefiting from the student care subsidies. MSF will continue to review the subsidies regularly to ensure that student care remains affordable and accessible to low-income households.”
“Children who are unable to remain with their families for various reasons are placed in foster care or in children's homes on a temporary basis. Between 2007 and 2011, about 750 children were placed in foster care or admitted into children’s homes. Efforts will be made to first reintegrate these children back with their parents or extended families. Where reintegration is not in the best interest of the child, such as where there are serious risks to their safety and well-being, alternative care arrangements, including adoption will be explored. Adoption is also considered for children who were abandoned or where their family could not be traced. The number of children in foster care and children's homes who are adopted yearly is small. Between 2007 and 2011, 37 of such children were adopted. Adoption is a lifelong commitment and adopters must be suitable and also prepared to undertake the responsibilities and challenges in adopting and raising a child. Pre-adoption briefings are provided to prospective adopters so that they can make an informed decision. Where couples have decided on adoption, we facilitate the process and, at the same time, undertake the necessary measures to establish the suitability of the adoptive parents and that adoption by the prospective adopters would be in the child's best interest in the long term. Page: 170”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, on the first question, I will convey your information to NCPG and get them to update the website. On the second question, yes, we are continuing to promote self-exclusion, but I must say that we do not want only more people to come on board, we want those that are most at-risk to come on board, and that is where we are focusing our efforts. For example, we know many people in the church groups are not in the at-risk group due to their spiritual belief; they do not go to the casinos. If they come on board, we welcome them, but they are not really the target group that we are going after as priority. We are going after those who are most at-risk and we will work with various community groups to ensure that we continue to promote these efforts.”
“Sir, I will answer the first clarification and leave Minister Iswaran to answer the second one. The visit limit is but one of the many tools in our arsenal to deal with problem gambling. The Member asked whether there is evidence from other jurisdictions. Yes, we have studied the models, like the casinos in Holland, and they have proven to be effective in their jurisdiction. We will continue to learn from other jurisdictions and also to improve upon it. As the Member mentioned, we are indeed concerned about the issue of intensification when we impose a visit limit. This is something that we will watch and we are also closely watching the other jurisdictions' practices, and whether there are other things that we can do to better our system.”
“Sir, on the first question – the Youth of Go! Programme (YGP) aims to engage youths in meaningful activities and help them to develop problem solving and coping skills to steer them away from crime. Unfortunately, I do not have the statistics that the Member requires at this point in time but I will be happy to provide him with the statistics should he need them. Page: 1327”
“Some of these efforts have paid off and, if we look at the policing figures, they have slowly, gradually declined over the years, in terms of the number of people who are arrested for youth crimes. This is perhaps one small sign that the upstream efforts are paying off. Having said that, we should never be complacent. We should continue to see how else we can work on upstream measures to better engage these youths.”
“Sir, in reference to the planning parameters, there are various groups of at-risk youths that we can take a look at. For example, those who drop out from schools or those who are exhibiting problems with their academic progress in schools. There are people who hang out at various joints. All these are places where we look out for the youths-at-risk and we try to engage them as far as possible. Page: 1327 On the second point, the Member is, indeed, correct that the youths are mobile. They have different sorts of activities that may be slightly different from the conventional youths. Having said that, there are also opportunities for us to engage them on the platforms that they actually like. For example, some of them may drop out from schools and they may like soccer. The Police has a scheme that encourages them – it is called the Delta League – to come together. I must say that Delta League is not just for at-risk youths, it is also for other youths to come together as well, because we do not want to brand people as being at-risk. Whoever needs help, we try to engage them in activities that will appeal to them. For example, soccer is one opportunity and, through it, some of these youths are also brought into community service action plans with the community leaders, so that they not only have the opportunity to be given guidance but also have access to mentors who can work with them on a much more preventive basis, than just to do the policing action, as the Member had mentioned. And, indeed, we agree with the Member that policing will be the last resort. We very much like to invest in upstream efforts.”
“Sir, in response to the first supplementary question on the SPARK-standards, for those who are trying to achieve the SPARK-accreditation, and that is if they have not met it, we will work with them to see how best they can meet it. We do want to encourage more of our centres to meet the accreditation required. On the second question, for those centres that do not meet the requirements, we have withheld funding from them until they do so. Page: 1219”
“Sir, the anchor operator scheme is aimed at enhancing the affordability, accessibility and quality of childcare in Singapore. Since 2009, a total of $69 million has been disbursed to the anchor operators. The grants are determined based on the number of centres developed and the manpower to support the centres and their capacity. The disbursement of grants is performance based, and the level of funding depends on the standards met by the operator. Anchor operators are required to submit regular reports and audited statements on the utilisation of the grants. Since the scheme was introduced, the two anchor operators currently on the scheme have built a total of 132 childcare centres. Apart from expanding capacity, the anchor operators are required to keep childcare programmes fees at these centres affordable, below that of the industry median. Anchor operators also need to meet quality targets. These quality indicators cover areas such as teachers' qualification, kindergarten class size as well as centre quality.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, we note Mr Ang Wei Neng's suggestion. I would like to share with Members that if Members see that there are families who require help to manage their finances or bring up their families, whether it is the HOPE scheme or other schemes, they can always refer them to MSF, and we will see how best we can help them, either through the HOPE scheme or some other ways. Page: 1218 The original intention of the HOPE scheme is to help our young families to keep their families small, and provide them with the mentoring help, in order for them to bring up their families better. But if there are other people who require help and do not qualify for the HOPE scheme, we can always look at some other ways to help them. Page: 1218”
“The number of child adoptions saw a general downtrend from 703 in 2001 to 556 in 2005, before stabilising at about 400 over the past six years. In 2011, there were 418 adoptions. Just over half of the adoption cases involve foreign children. The majority of the children come from neighbouring Southeast Asian countries. Page: 1166 The majority of Singaporean adopters are Chinese and between 35 and 50 years old. Their median household monthly income is between $6,000 and $7,000. About nine in 10 applied for child adoption jointly with their spouse. Page: 1166”
“Casino entry levies collected in 2010 and 2011 were about $216 million and $195 million respectively. About $134 million has been collected from January to September 2012. However, data on the number of annual casino entry levies collected by each casino operator and the amount of casino entry levies collected by each casino operator is commercially sensitive. All casino entry levies are paid to the Singapore Totalisator Board and are used for public, social and charitable purposes. Page: 1165”
“We will be signing the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD). We have decided not to sign the Optional Protocol to the Convention which provides for complaints regarding the violation of rights under the Convention to be brought to and investigated by the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Page: 1165 We believe that there are sufficient appropriate platforms locally for any person or group to raise such concerns or complaints. For example, they could raise such issues with the Ministry of Social and Family Development or the National Council of Social Service (NCSS), the umbrella body for voluntary welfare organisations in the social sector. In addition, we have also recently formed the Enabling Masterplan Implementation Committee. This Committee will monitor the implementation of the Enabling Masterplan, which has charted a comprehensive agenda providing a solid foundation for Singapore to progressively meet the obligations of the Convention. The Committee will also facilitate dialogue with members of the disabled community. This will further ensure that Singapore progresses steadily in fulfilling the Convention. Page: 1165”
“By mid 2013, there will be up to 30 new taxis on the road that can accommodate larger, high-back wheelchairs. These are funded under MSF's Wheelchair-Accessible Taxi Grant. Persons with disabilities who are working or studying may also apply for financial assistance for their transport needs from funds, such as the LTA Cares Fund and Trailblazer-Chan Chiew Ping Special Schools Fund. Page: 1145”
“About 3% of our resident population have some form of disability ranging from mild to severe. Some were born with a disability, while others had acquired a disability through illness, accident or old age. We do not have definitive data on the number of persons with disability in full-time and part-time employment. The Government provides support for the training and employment of persons with disabilities. We fund special education (SPED) schools. MOE has also introduced vocational education in selected SPED schools while the National Council of Social Service (NCSS) has introduced Centres of Training and Integration. The Government also provides support to employers that hire persons with disabilities. The Open Door Fund encourages employment opportunities by providing funding to defray cost for apprenticeship, workplace modification, job re-design and job support. Since it started in 2007, 220 companies have offered job opportunities under the scheme, and this has benefited 650 persons with disabilities. To date, the Government has funded $3.2 million. In February this year, we also extended the Special Employment Credit to employers who hire persons with disabilities. This has already benefited some 1,200 employers who hired close to 2,000 persons with disabilities. Page: 1145 We have made effort to enhance public transport accessibility for persons with disabilities. We are creating at least one barrier-free route in all MRT and LTR stations and making 95% of all bus shelters barrier-free. We have also made it mandatory for all new public buses, registered from June 2006 onwards, to be wheelchair-accessible. As of today, 54% of our public bus fleet are wheelchair-accessible. We aim to reach 100% by 2020.”
“The Home Ownership Plus Education (HOPE) scheme was introduced in January 2004. It is a voluntary scheme for young low-income families who choose to keep their families small. Beneficiaries are provided with help for a head-start in the form of cash grants as well as funding in housing, training and children's education. They also receive mentoring support. There were 2,674 families on HOPE as of end September 2012. The ethnic breakdown, based on the ethnicity of the mothers, is as follows: 45% were Malay, 33% Chinese, 15% Indian, and the rest from other ethnic groups. MSF will review the HOPE scheme as part of our regular programme reviews. We will review it to see if it needs to be refined or improved. Page: 1141”
“Sir, the answer to the first question is, yes, we are regularly reviewing the infant-to-staff ratios. We would make this information available as and when the various centres make it available to us. Page: 1041”
“More than 100,000 people took part in the inaugural Singapore National Games (SNG) this year. These included more than 11,000 athletes, 600 officials and 5,000 volunteers. The rest were spectators and supporters. We spent an estimated $5.2 million to organise the SNG. On top of that, the private sector also stepped up to sponsor over $1 million. Page: 1019 The inaugural SNG has made an encouraging start as we have achieved many of the objectives of the Games. We will continue to refine the format to better achieve our goals to strengthen sporting culture and connect Singaporeans through sports. Page: 1019”